Spring of Almost Drowned Earth Princess
by deathgeonous
Summary: To defeat the corrupted earth, the purity of the moon must join with a pure form of earth. Yes that is purposely vague. Just read this.
1. THE TRUE HEIR TO THE EARTH’S CROWN

AN: What am I, a request author now? Tuisto had a wicked idea. He posted it. I said I liked it. He wanted me to write it or something similar to it. So I said I would. Thus this Fic was born.

Now I am not doing his idea exactly, in fact I'm changing a lot of it. Hell the honest truth of it is I'm actually severely butchering it. I just wanted you to know just what prompted this unholy idea into seeing the life of day.

And this is not only is this idea born from one by Tuisto, he's also the beta. And that's not all, I'm also dedicating it to him, for his asking me to do this. So, this one's for you Tuisto, read and enjoy.

So on to the summary, the disclaimer, and then the Fic.

Summary: To defeat the corrupted earth, the purity of the moon must join with a pure form of earth. Yes that is purposely vague. Just read this.

Disclaimer: I do not own the intellectual property that is Ranma One Half or any of its associated characters, locations, items, ideas, or anything else that may be associated with it. Those belong to each of its respective copyright owners. I do not own the intellectual property that is Sailor Moon or any of its associated characters, locations, items, ideas, or anything else that may be associated with it. Those belong to each of its respective copyright owners. I do not own any of the intellectual properties that are other fictional persons, places or things. Those belong to each of their own copyright owners. I do not own any real person, place or thing. Those belong to either themselves, in the case of a person, or their real life current true owners in case of a place or object. What I do own is any and every original person, place or thing, used in here as well as the story its self. Those very few things are mine. And that's all that ever will be mine.

SPRING OF ALMOST DROWNED EARTH PRINCESS

CHAPTER ONE

THE TRUE HEIR TO THE EARTH'S CROWN IS ANOINTED

In a small hut in the village of Joketsuzoku, China

During a telling of

**The Legend of the Earth Princess **

A bedtime story passed that is passed down in the Village of the Amazons

A wizened old woman was tucking a small purple haired girl in to bed.

"Tell me a bedtime story Grandma." The young child cried out to the old one.

The old woman seemed to think about it for a moment, then the child, afraid she would not be told one, cried out "Please?"

"Ok, ok young one. I'll tell you one. A true one at that, for I think you are now old enough to hear the truth behind it." The old woman said with a gentle smile.

"Really? I mean of course I am!" The child exclaimed.

The old woman just laughed, and said "Quiet down child, or I will not tell you the story!" Teasing her Grandchild with an empty threat.

That immediately made the young purple headed girl gave a quick, and cute, pout that caused her Grandmother to laugh heartily. Then she began her bedtime tale.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess that would someday rule the Earth. Unfortunately for the Princess of the Earth, she was very angry with the Princess of the Moon for stealing her Prince Charming away from her. Vowing to seek vengeance against the more powerful Moon Princess, she sought a way to increase her power. Unfortunately for her, again, she had found a way, but it was a way that made it so a powerful Demon bonded to her very soul so it could get free and destroy all life in the galaxy. Unknowing and uncaring of the cost attached to the power, she did just that, thus dooming the universe. That is what happened oh so long ago." The Grandmother began telling her wide eyed grand daughter.

"The other Princess' Mother, the Queen of the Moon, had sent the Princess of the Moon and her Prince and all her closest friends and protectors into the distant future to be reborn someday, after sealing away the wicked Princess, the Demon that controlled her and all her most loyal followers away in another plane of existence, hopefully for all time."

"Good." The child said, very happy that the bad lady was sent away.

"Yes good." The old woman said. "Now to the truth behind this simple bedtime story, which is known to only a few in this village. Do you wish to hear it young one? It is not a pretty truth."

"Yes Grandma, I wannta' know." The child said with a little fear.

"Good for you young one. The truth is, this tribe once served the wicked Princess, but she became too wicked for us to follow, and we abandoned her in the war with the Moon. When the war was over, our surviving foremothers were giving a charge by the ghost of the Moon Queen herself. She cursed our people child; she cursed them with a curse we readily accepted as a fitting punishment for even thinking of fighting for the wicked Princess at all. She, in her final moments, when she had thrust her child and the others into the future, saw that their would be a time of great struggle, the wicked one would rise up again in the time of her child's new youth. But her down fall could not come from the efforts of her child or her friends and protectors alone. No, to beat the wicked Princess of the Earth, a pure Princess of the Earth must be born to help the reborn Princess of the Moon. And that is why we now guard this valley."

"What do you mean Grandma?" The young child asked, slightly confused.

"Ah, do you know of the forbidden Pools of Jusenkyo?" The old woman asked the child.

"Yes." She said shivering with fear at the mere mention of that accursed place.

"When the Earth Princess was still young and pure of heart, before she let the darkness into her soul, she was traveling the world, seeing the many lands and places of the domain she would one day rule over, and she fell into one of those accursed springs, and almost drowned in it. That seemed to be enough for the accursed things to make a copy of her in them. It is now commonly called the 'Spring of Drowned Girl', but that is only to hide the full truth of the spring, verily, it is actually the 'Spring of Almost Drowned Earth Princess'. Only the chosen one though will get the true form of the pool, all others will only get the girl portion. In fact it was stated by the Queen of the Moon's ghost that the chosen one would only get the girl curse as well, at first. The only way for the true power of that cursed spring to activate is when a being with the girl curse proves themselves worthy. Remember that young child. We have a task to monitor all who fall in to that spring, because someday, someone will unlock the true form of the curse, and then we must find the reborn Moon Princess, so they may work together to fight off the evil Earth Princess. Remember that child."

"I will Grandma!" She cried out in determination, and happiness at the thought of being a part of something important with the grown-ups.

And she did remember it. She told her own Daughter the story, and after losing her in a war with another tribe of that accursed valley, she told it to her Granddaughter it as well. Sadly, when the time came, she was too blinded by her own ambitions for her only Grandchild, and her only living relative, to see the fact that she was already in the presence of The Chosen One, and did not once not once did she see the signs, until it was almost too late.

Nerima, Japan: Three months after Ranma's failed wedding: In the Neko Hanten

'_I am an old fool_.' Cologne thought to herself. '_How could I not see that Ranma is The Chosen One? I should have seen it long ago. Ranma's Martial Art's code that Ranma keeps spouting over and over should have been the first clue. Ranma not turning out at all like the man how raised him and laughingly calls himself his Father should have been a true red flag. Ranma's constant rescuing of that ungrateful Tendo girl should have shown me with out a doubt. The battle with Herb should have just beaten the idea into me like a dead horse. And the Saffron incident, that should have just screamed it out to me with a big flashing neon sign flowed by a marching band. The boy brought someone back from the dead by pure will for the Gods sake! But no, I was just as blind as all the others. And now, now I can see it, and only because I can see the magic of the pools ready to strike Ranma. I can see it no, now that it's almost too late to tell her, yes, sigh, her, that her curse will soon change and she'll be the new Princess of the Earth. Shampoo will be utterly heartbroken, the other elders will be screaming like banshees and Ranma, Oh Ranma will just be thrilled with this... NOT_.' The Elder Amazon thought to herself with a frown.

A knocking on the door to the closed restaurant startled her out of her unusual bout with self pity, and she thought '_That must be Ranma. I see he got my message. Well time to face the music as they say._'

With that thought, she hopped over to the door and opened it to find it pouring cats and dogs in a true monster of a rain storm outside and a very wet female Ranma on her doorstep. Sighing she said "It must be fate that you came here in that form. The Gods must truly enjoy rubbing your face in your mistakes." Cologne said morosely. "Please, come in child, for we have much to discuss." She said, moving out of the soaking wet red haired girl's way.

"Yeah, you said you needed to talk with me about some ancient Amazon prophecy or some such thing. I'm only here because you said it will get me out of my engagement to Shampoo, if I so desire it." She said sitting down at a table, still soaking wet. "So spill it you old ghoul."

Cologne hopped back to the table and sighed. "Ranma, I'm sorry." She said morosely. That caused the hairs on the back of Ranma's neck to stand up on end, for this did not sound like it would be very good news for her.

"Bout what?" Ranma asked cautiously and ready to flee if needed.

"About not seeing something I should have seen much sooner. I want to tell you a story Ranma, it is a story commonly told as a bed time story to young Amazon girls." Cologne started, when Ranma interrupted with

"Ain't I a little old for bedtime stories? And it's morning anyway's." Ranma said frowning. She did not like how this was starting to feel, and a bedtime story to start things off? Weird. Even for her life.

"True Ranma." Cologne said nodding. "But this so called 'Bedtime Story' is actually the secret to a veiled truth that I need to tell you." Clearing her throat, Cologne told the same story she had heard from her Grandmother all those years ago, and had repeated to her Daughter and her Granddaughter over the years

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess that would someday rule the Earth. Unfortunately for the Princess of the Earth, she was very angry with the Princess of the Moon for stealing her Prince Charming away from her. Vowing to seek vengeance against the more powerful Moon Princess, she sought a way to increase her power. Unfortunately for her, again, she had found a way, but it was a way that made it so a powerful Demon bonded to her very soul so it could get free and destroy all life in the galaxy. Unknowing and uncaring of the cost attached to the power, she did just that, thus dooming the universe. That is what happened oh so long ago."

"The other Princess' Mother, the Queen of the Moon, had sent the Princess of the Moon and her Prince and all her closest friends and protectors into the distant future to be reborn someday, after sealing away the wicked Princess, and the Demon that controlled her and her most loyal followers away in another plane of existence, hopefully for all time."

Cologne then looked at Ranma with a severe and pointed look and said "That story is just to get the young ones ready to accept the truth about our tribe."

"What truth? And what's it got to do with me?" Ranma asked with trepidation.

"Simply put, our ancestors were servants to the Evil Earth Princess. We deserted her after we could no longer stand how corrupt and evil she had become, but we still fought with her in the beginning of the war against the Moon Kingdom. Thus we were cursed for it. A curse we willing accepted." Cologne started, when Ranma interrupted her again.

"How were you cursed?" Ranma asked, intrigued despite herself.

"When the Moon Queen sent the children into the future, she saw several things. She saw that the Evil Earth Princess would rise again to do harm to the world in the name of her Demonic Mistress. She saw that her daughter would fight alongside her reborn friends to combat her evil. And she saw that her daughter could not win unless she had the help of someone very special, she needs the help of the true Earth Princess." Ranma started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach when she heard that.

"In truth there is no 'Spring of Drowned Girl'. That spring and the entire story behind is only just a partial truth at the very best. The true truth is that it is the 'Spring of Almost Drowned Earth Princess', for the Evil Princess, back when she was not tainted by jealousy, hatred and the Demonic control of her Mistress, was touring the Kingdom of Earth to see the world she would one day rule over, and fell in and then almost drowned in that spring. And as you know, almost drowning is as good as doing it for those springs, and thus she left her template imbedded into the pool. The pool truly does only turn one into a girl for everyone. Everyone but The Chosen One. That person too, only gets the girl curse, at first." Ranma began to dread hearing more, for she knew that this would fuck her over yet again, but listened on despite herself. "When the a person with the girl curse has proven themselves beyond shadow of a doubt to the magic that controls the pools, that person will be changed by the pools magic into the next Earth Princess, with all the powers and responsibilities that goes with it. And Ranma, you are The Chosen One." Ranma stiffened at that. "You have been showing the signs of the magic choosing you. In all truth I should have seen this coming long, long ago, but I truly was too blind to see it. I don't know when, but soon, very soon you shall become the Earth's Princess, and must find the reborn Moon Princess to defeat your predecessor or all life everywhere is doomed." Cologne finished softly.

Ranma sat still for a moment, and then pounded her fist into the table, causing it to fracture. "This is BULLSHIT!!!" Ranma screamed in rage. Tears of ragged anger unconsciously forming in her eyes, Ranma asked aloud "Why does this shit always happen to me?" The tears went away, and then the anger returned, with Ranma screaming at the top of her lungs. "Why the fuck would it choose me!?! I don't want it!"

"It's not what you want. It's what is needed. You were chosen. I don't know how long it will take, but very soon, you WILL be the Princess of the Earth, and have a very grave responsibility." Cologne told Ranma flatly.

"I know, I know." Ranma said sitting back down with a sad expression. "It's never about what I want, and that's what truly pisses me off." slightly chuckling darkly. It was a very scary sound, especially coming from one such as Ranma. "I guess I have no choice but to accept it though." Ranma said morosely.

It was then, at that time, as Ranma said those words that the Magic of the pools struck. Ranma started glowing a bluish green glow, which not only steadily grew brighter, but also steadily grew larger, until it filled up the entire dining area of the Neko Hanten with an eye searing bluish green light. Then it suddenly snapped, and disappeared into Ranma, knocking her out cold. And Cologne, the only witness to the rebirth of the True Earth Princess, blinked her eyesight back into being and sighed heavily. Then she somehow got the newly crowned royalty tucked into her bed. She then wrote a note explaining that she would be back shortly if Ranma awoke early, and went to explain this mess to Ranma's so called Friends and Family. She was not looking forward to that. Not at all.

Tendo House and Dojo, Nerima, Japan: a little while later

Cologne had gathered all of Ranma's close acquaintances in Nerima, well other then the Insane Kuno's that is, and Ryoga, since he could not be found during this five minuets, and explained the realities of this new situation to them. Though it went over about as expected. Or maybe not.

All stayed silent in their shock at first, and then it was Nodoka whom spoke, breaking the silence, and opening a dam that spilled out nothing but noise. Lots and lots of noise.

"Why did this have to happen to my child? Have those accursed pools not already done enough to my poor baby?" She asked through her tears.

Then some typical responses came from the typical sources. "Why, oh why was I cursed to have a son that would give in to such a pathetic and weak curse?!" Genma wailed dramatically, and in a very over the top style at that.

"The Schools? What of the Schools?" Soun cried. Literally. His tears were falling like a waterfall.

Then came the not so typical responses from some not so typical sources.

"To hell with the Schools!" Akane all but shouted, shocking everyone in the room. "Damn it father! Ranma will need all our help to get through this and still be ready to face his destiny! And in case you never noticed, the Schools would never have been joined anyway, due to you and Mr. Saotome! You, and you alone killed any chance of Ranma and I ever getting together as a couple!" Akane finally shouted, ending inches from her father's face.

Shocked out of his tears for a moment, he asked "What, what do you mean?"

"I mean," Akane drawled out while standing up and getting out of her Father's facial space "Your attempts at always trying to get us wed at any time we expressed any interest what so ever in each other, has made it so any romantic feelings we could have possibly had for each other had died long ago! When I was about to Marry Ranma, I realized I was disgusted by it, for it felt like I was about to Marry my Brother! And when I told Ranma that, he said he felt the exact same way!" Seeing Ukyo's and Shampoo's joyful expressions, Akane sneered and said "Don't be too happy girls, he BEGGED me to keep up pretences so that he could keep you two away. He sees you, Ukyo, as his best friend, or he did, until you used LIVE EXPOSIVES ON HIM! Now he doesn't know how to feel about you. I think you should just grovel for his forgiveness and pray for the best."

Turning to Shampoo, Akane looked sad "You on the other hand Shampoo, just confuse the hell out of him. First off, you came to kill him, for beating you in a fight, a fight over some food for God's sake, and he's never gotten over that aspect of you. You claim to love him, yet you truly did want to kill him at first. He is willing to forgive you for that though, and try to be friends with you, but nothing else."

Then laughing darkly, Akane then said, "He truly does not want to marry any of us, and only stayed with me, for I felt the same way. That's a riot, ain't it girls? He was willing to marry me, out of all of us, and only because I was the only one that didn't want to marry him, and if he had to suffer, so should his wife. Although I severely doubt he ever saw it like that. No, I think he saw me as the only safe one out of all of us." Akane the laughed even darker and said "Me the safe one? That's a hoot!" She then looked over the two other Fiancées of Ranma Saotome and said "And now, I doubt any of us will ever Marry him, or is it her now?" She then chuckled in the dark laughing tone she had used this entire time.

Soun then started tearing up again, while Shampoo and Ukyo sat in shock, and Akane said coldly "Oh stuff it Daddy. Stop your crying."

"Oh my pitiful son, how could you…" Genma started when he was hit on the back of his head with a sheathed katana.

"Genma." The ice cold voice of his wife said as she unsheathed her katana. "Stop bad mouthing Ranma. You got him into almost all of this mess, either directly or indirectly, and now that my baby has a true heroic quest to fulfill, you will either help us help Ranma meet her new destiny, or stay the hell out of our way! If I hear you or hear of you giving Ranma any grief about things as they stand, I will hurt you, and hurt you badly!" she told him that in that same ice cold voice as she held her katana tight to her husband's throat. "Nod if you understand." Genma then nodded. "Good, now STAY SILENT!" She shouted as she took her katana away from her husband's throat, leaving a shallow cut on it.

Looking over to Cologne, Nodoka asked "Can you bring my Daughter back here? I think it's time she truly came home. Home to me and MY home. And I will help you in what ever way I can to prepare her for her new destiny. I have been absent from her life for far too long, and WILL NOT be held out of it any longer." Nodoka told Cologne, daring the Matriarch of the Amazon tribe to contradict her.

"And now that Ranma and I can drop the act, I will too." Akane said coldly.

To say that Cologne was shocked would be an understatement of understatements. What the Tendo child had told her had truly shocked her, for she had thought that the two truly did love each other and were in deep denial of the fact. And while they did love each, that it was as siblings shocked her greatly. And that the only reason Ranma was willing to Marry Akane was for the soul purpose of escaping both Shampoo and Ukyo shook her badly. She had no idea she had misread this entire situation this badly.

And Nodoka surprised her as well. She had always seen the woman as a flake, but now she saw a woman with a will of steel and the skills to back it up, what with the way she had just handled her weapon. Cologne was used to having a ton of information and being able to read people very easily, and yet she had obviously misread three very important people in her current schemes, and had obviously not gotten all the information to be had for it, and what information she did have, she had gotten some of it wrong, to put it mildly. She was seriously pissed at her self for her little FUBAR.

"I'll go get her now. Nodoka, Akane, do the two of you wish to accompany me?" She offered as a peace offering. After they accepted, she told her Grandchild, who pouted in response, to stay at the Tendo's for now.

The Neko Hanten: five minutes later

The three women came into the Neko Hanten out of the pouring rain and found Ranma in one of Shampoo's bathrobes sitting at a table in the middle of the room, nursing some hot coco.

"Ranma, what are you doing in Shampoo's bathrobe?" Cologne asked surprised.

"I woke up and was very cold Cologne. I had been soaking wet when you put me in your bed after all. So I took a nice hot bath to warm myself up, and to see if what it thought had happed did. And yes, it did." Ranma said emotionlessly.

"And how are you feeling Ranma? Truth now." Akane said. Seeing the look on Ranma's face, Akane said "I came clean to everyone about our act, so don't start hiding again." Akane told Ranma, shocking her for a moment.

Ranma shrugged and said, after a sip of her hot coco, "Not as bad as I feared. I feel no where near as depressed as last time, but I think it's due to the way the curse changed me." Ranma said with a far off look.

"What do you mean, Ranma?" Nodoka asked, fearing that Ranma had had her mind altered by the magic of Jusenkyo.

Sighing Ranma said "The last few times I was stuck as a girl, I was a boy in a girl's body, and hated it. Jusenkyo obviously decided that it couldn't have that happen to me, so it, blunted my hate to this, so to speak." Seeing the worried looks on their faces, Ranma sighed and said "I'm still me, I'm still Ranma, and I'm still a male in my mind, but Jusenkyo has blunted my normal hate for being stuck in this form. Oh, I'm still pissed as all Hell right now, but I'm not suicidal like I might have been if not for the magical blunting." Taking another sip of her hot coco, Ranma said "It got me to see the up side to this."

"And that would be?" Cologne asked with a curious edge to her voice.

"Do you know just what the Powers Earth Royalty command?" Ranma asked Cologne with a raised eyebrow.

"No. we, if we ever knew, had forgotten it." Cologne admitted.

"I know. Now I do at least. It will take me a long time to master the Powers I have been given, and in fact it will probably take me a few weeks just to be a novice with them, but they are nice." Ranma said sipping her hot coco again.

"Well don't just leave us in suspense like that Ranma, tell us!" Akane semi-shouted at Ranma.

"All I know is that while I was asleep, I was told what a Royal of the Earth line can do. Any natural element that can be produced by the earth is mine to control. If I knew enough about this power, I could stop this rain storm right now, if I wanted to." As one of the three were about to speak, Ranma said "It does have its drawbacks and imitations though. One limitation is it only works while I'm on earth. Another is I must maintain my spiritual connection with the earth. If I am neither on the earth or if my connection gets broken, I can not access these powers. Another thing is every one who has this power teaches them selves to use it. There truly is no one true way to use it, you must teach yourself it. Also, if like I said earlier, I stopped this rain storm, I would be denying the Earth something it wants. I should not do that. To use this power I must harmonize my own needs and wants with the Earth's needs and wants, or risk backlash from the Earth." Chuckling softly, Ranma said "Truly, I was told much, and at the same time very little by my dream. All I do know is starting soon I will have to start teaching myself this. But for now, I am comforted by listening to the Earth." Ranma said with a far off look.

"Listening to the Earth?" Cologne asked intrigued.

"Yes." Ranma said. "It sings. It sings a wondrous and wordless song. It truly is beautiful." Ranma admitted softly, though every one heard the gentle words.

Gathering her self up, more mentally and emotionally then physically, though there was that too, Nodoka said, "Ranma, why don't you get dressed again? You are move back in with me for now while Cologne Akane and I will try to help you all we can to face your new destiny."

"I'm moving back in with you Mom? Really?" Ranma asked with unbridled joy in her voice.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it seems your farther did not take this news very well, for I saw him leaving, or should I say sneaking. Away from the Tendo's with a bag over his shoulder as we left. I think he's going on another 'Training Trip'." Nodoka said with disgust.

"Well, I can't say I'm sorry to here that." Ranma said flatly.

"I'll visit as much as I can Ranma. And help as much as I can too." Akane told Ranma.

"Hey, I'm only going to be five blocks away, you can come over every day if you like." Ranma shook her head "I still can't believe that all that time Mom, you were only five blocks away, and knew nothing about me." Ranma said sadly.

Nodoka hugged her newly made Daughter and said "I was away a lot on business."

"Business? What sort of business?" Ranma asked.

Nodoka smirked and said "You may not believe this Ranma, but I work at, and run, a, well to put it bluntly, I run a body guarding agency, and frequently, I need to be there to guard a certain somebody." Nodoka was met with silence.

Ranma then laughed and said "I knew it! I new you had to be better with that damn sword then you let on, for your clumsiness was just so obviously forced to me! But running a body guarding agency? I would have never guessed it. Still it makes sense." Ranma hugged her Mom and said "I think I want you to show me where you work some time. Who knows, maybe someday I'll work there for you."

"If I have anything to say about it, you will, and you'll take over for me some day." Nodoka half laughed while being utterly serious. "I can't hire you till you graduate though." She said mockingly.

"Um, you mean next week then?" Ranma asked innocently.

"Will you though? From what I heard about your performance in school…" Nodoka said lightly.

"Another act. Ranma won't graduate anywhere near the top of the class, but she won't be scraping the bottom of it either." Akane said "She worked overtime with Miss Hinomiya to graduate on time and with decent grades. Quite the feat considering Ranma missed a lot of school due to challenges and quests, plus the fact that Ranma never went to school much if at all before going to Furinkan, and then add in the fact that Principle Kuno Hates Ranma's guts and was actively trying to get Ranma either expelled or held back, or for her just to drop out, and then you can see that this is close to a miracle here." Akane finished.

"Hmm, maybe I could see about hiring you Ranma." Nodoka said being serious now and already considering certain possibilities.

"As enlightening as all that was," Cologne began, breaking the mood, "Ranma still must get dressed and we must leave soon."

"True." Nodoka said, getting up from the kneeling position she had been in to hug Ranma.

"I'll go get dressed then." Ranma said, getting up out of her chair, after finishing her hot coco though of course.


	2. THE MORE THINGS CHANGE

AN: I know, I know, when setting this starting somewhere in the Beryl Arc of Sailor Moon's Time line, going by canon, none of the outers should be here yet. My answer to that is

"Canon? What is this canon you speak of? I know not of this canon!"

That's a very good answer in my book, but how to translate that for you? Hmm… Ah, I know!

This is a Fan Fic. This is MY Fan Fic to be exact. And I can do whatever I want with it.

Besides, just image the heart palpitations I give Pluto with this mess! Come on folks, think these evil thoughts with me here!

That said, I'm introducing Setsuna Meiou, AKA Sailor Pluto, AKA The Mistress of Time, AKA The Time Bitch, AKA you get the idea, she has a LOT of Time related mockers, into this Fic in this chapter.

I'm having fun now, are you?

AN2: I was sadly highly doped up on pain medicine after a cabinet shelf full of dishes fell upon me while all the dishes broke at and on my bare feet, hurting them rather badly. So this is, looking back at it, a highly funny chapter. As in funny HAHA not funny weird, though maybe it is that too. Oh well, lets just say that I like what I've written here, even if I was on a lot of pain medicine at the time. But do not expect all chapters to have THIS level of humor in them. though some of the others might come close if I need to lighten the mood for a bit.

SPRING OF ALMOST DROWNED EARTH PRINCESS

CHAPTER TWO

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE

THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

At the Gates of Time: Somewhen

Setsuna Meiou was staring into the Gates of Time and was quite frankly, trying not to have a heart attack or lose her fragile hold on her sanity at this point in time. Hair pulling was fine though, she lost that battle a long time ago.

You see, a few weeks ago Beryl's personal energy signature had appeared on the earth. And that was not a good thing, no it was not, for the first few Senshi, the inners, had only just awoken, and they were definitely NOT ready to face her at this point in time. And if Beryl was already walking the Earth, then she might have to step in prematurely. And that would just shoot all her well laid plans strait to all Hell faster then Minako can mangle a proverb. Then she noticed something interesting about the bio-energy signature of this being being identified as Beryl. It was Beryl's bio-energy signature from before she made her infernal Demonic pact, back when she was still the Princess of the Earth, and not a host to a superpowerful Demonic entity. Puzzled, and wondering just how Beryl managed to free herself from her ultimate mistake, Setsuna zeroed in on the signal to observe it.

What she saw astounded her. This was not Beryl. Not at all. It looked almost like Beryl when she was a teenager, except the eyes. Instead of a deep and dark purple, they were a clear and brilliant blue. Other than that, this might have been, at least in form, a clone of a young Beryl. And at first, for a few fleeting moments, that's just what Setsuna thought it must be, a teenaged clone of Beryl. She was quickly proven wrong within a few moments of watching this look-alike though. Once she got the girls name, Ranma Saotome, she did a quick background check on her. That quickly went south faster than a flock of ducks in winter, as she had quickly realized that this persons life was so insane that only a truly in-depth background check could give her all the information she needed to know.

Now what was currently driving Setsuna up the wall was not Ranma's insane life, nor was it the fact that Ranma was now the only heir to the powers of the Terran Line. It wasn't even that this Ranma person was going to help the Senshi defeat Beryl, even though THAT would screw up all her plans six ways to Sunday quicker than this Ranma seemed to be able to eat. Honestly, she made Usagi seem like a slow eater.

No, what was driving her absolutely, positively, and without a doubt totally bonkers, and was really and truly making her wish she allowed herself to have alcoholic drinks on the job, was the fact that her Queen had set all this up after her death and had not even bothered to tell her of the fact that she did so!

"Serenity, my Queen." Setsuna said, holding her head in pain, for she had a massive stress related migraine at this point. The last one she had that was this bad was when her Queen had decided she needed to get a date and get laid badly. She still has nightmares about those few centuries. The horror, the utter horror of her Queens's choices. "You are beautiful, loving, caring, kind, wise, and you could try the patience of a saint while at the same time drive a man who never touched the stuff to become a confirmed alcoholic for life. If you could reach them after your death, why oh why did you not warn me yourself as well, so that I could fit this into my plans that you had ordered for me to set in motion?" Setsuna asked aloud. Then, after asking that, in a deep dark corner in the back of her mind, she could swear hat she could hear the bell like laughter of her deceased Queen, followed by her musical voice saying "Oh, lighten up Puu."

She snapped her head up at this and said "I'm going on break! I need a drink, several in fact. And after I get over my soon to be hangover, I'm visiting this Ranma Saotome. If she's going to involve herself in this soon to be fiasco on my Queens orders, then I need to integrate her properly into this mess that I've been left with. I might even have to, ugh, involve myself in this conflict to salvage anything from this mess." Setsuna said with extreme distaste.

And thus, Setsuna Meiou, AKA Sailor Pluto, AKA you know the rest, went to get well and truly drunk. And get drunk she did, for she spent over a week drinking anything with enough alcoholic content to get a spaceship to Mars using only a shot glass of the stuff. Stuff which she drank by the bottle and strait from it to make matters even worse. Her hangover was truly glorious.

Nodoka Saotome's Neriman home: a few days later: Six PM

Ranma was just coming in the house, and only because it was getting dark, because her Mother didn't want her practicing in the dark. She had spent the last few days in a very similar routine. She'd get up before dawn, eat a hearty breakfast, do a few katas to warm up for a few hours, and then when day brake came, start working on her new Earth powers, and finally when the sun started to set, would do a few quick katas for about half an hour to cool down and think things through. And right now she personally was amazed with her progress. She had expected it to take over two weeks to get to this point and she had reached it in only four days. She now considered herself a novice in the Powers of the Earth. She had a basic understanding of all the elements that were hers to command, and had two or more attacks from each element available to her now. Though she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would take a long time to be a true Grandmaster of these powers, but she now thought that within a few months she could become an Advanced Student of her new style. Yes folks, that's right, Ranma was treating this like she was creating her own school of martial arts. And in actuality, that was a smart way for her to do it, for it not only made it make a lot more sense to her, it helped her learn it faster.

"You look happy dear." Nodoka said with a cheery smile as her daughter walked in.

"I think I am. I think I can now honestly call my self a Novice with my Earth powers." Ranma said, smiling broadly.

"That's wonderful! I thought you said it would take you a few weeks to get to this point though?" Nodoka asked Ranma as she drank a glass of milk.

"I thought so too. I guess it's a little easier than I thought it would be. Though I still see it taking a few years to become a true Grandmaster of them, I think I'll be able to claim the title of an Advanced Student within a few months at the most." Ranma said, putting her glass in the sink.

"That's great Ranma." Nodoka said smiling, then clearing her face of her smile, she said "Now Ranma, please sit down, I have something very important to talk to you about." Nodoka said that in a kind, yet no nonsense tone of voice that had to be obeyed. Ranma of course, immediately sat down.

Nodoka sat at the same time. She then started to speak. "Ranma, tomorrow you graduate from that place that jokingly calls it's self a school, and I wish to hire you at my place of business. But before I do, I must tell you some things. And before I tell you them, you must swear to me that you will tell no one, not even Akane or Cologne. Especially Cologne." Nodoka stated flatly. "Both of our lives could ride on this silence Ranma, so do you swear never to reveal what I am about to tell you to anyone unless you have my permission?" Nodoka asked sternly.

"I can keep a secret when I need to. You have my word Mom." Ranma told her Mother seriously, wondering what the hell was going on here.

"Ok then Ranma. Now do not interrupt me until I finish and ask for questions form you, ok?" Nodoka asked her Daughter. Ranma nodded her consent. "While I do run a personal protection agency, and while that is where most of my income comes from, that is just a cover for my true business. And it is for my true business that I wish to hire you. I run a very specialized mercenary group, I guess you could say. It is specialized in that we only have one client, the Emperor of Japan and his true personal console themselves. We were formed by my predecessor, whom I took over for after he was killed, to be a silent sword of the empire, one that has no known connections to the Imperial Throne, and one that they can totally disavow if necessary. Do you understand me so far, just nod a yes or a no." Ranma tentively nodded a yes. "Good. We, about six months ago got a new mission. To find out all we could about some so called Demons that we have come to know as Youma that are attacking the residents of Tokyo, mainly in the Juban district, and then destroy them and their cause. We also have a secondary mission of trying to discover all we can about these teenage girls a few years younger then you who are destroying them with what appears to be very potent magical attacks. I feel that this Princess of the Moon and her friends and guardians may be these so called 'Magical Girls.' If and when you are hired, you will be joining us on both these missions, and I hope to be able to have you become our liaison between us, and these 'Magical Girls'. Understand? You may speak freely now Ranma." Nodoka said picking up a cup of tea that Ranma had not even noticed was there.

"Yeah I understand Mom, but wow, that is some story! I can understand just why you don't want anyone, especially the old ghoul to find out about this." Ranma went silent for a while and then asked "Mom, do you even think I could fit in in your, um, group? I mean sure, I think I could handle the combat aspects of it, but to be honest about it, I don't know if I'm secret mercenary agent material. Aren't they like, I don't know, subtle? That's not me at all, and you know that Mom."

"Yes I do know that, very well in fact. But at the moment, you are our best hope to get close to these girls, and do significant damage to these Youma, for they are highly resistant to modern conventional weaponry. I had to get my Katana blessed by a Priestess of Amaterasu to be able to kill the things with any form of ease. And it's still damn hard to do it with it. These girls on the other hand, just blast and kill, but they have no true sense of how to battle, and will get killed sooner or latter. They just have powers that seemed to be made for killing these Youma, but they, as of yet, are hardly any good at it. We need them as much as they need us, yet they seem to disappear before we can arrive or flee when we are too near. So my hope is a 'Magical Girl' of a different type," Ranma visibly winced at being called that "would be able to get their trust, and get them to trust us. We need you for this mission, and after this one is done, well we'll work on your subtleness. And until you do get that down, well we can always just use you for the pure combat missions." Nodoka said with a smirk to her Daughter.

Ranma laughed lightly and said "Mom, I hope you don't take this the wrong way or nothing, but while I truly have always loved you, I don't think I have ever truly liked you more then now that I'm starting to see your true self. Your act does not do the true you any justice!" Ranma laughed again.

Nodoka smirked again and said "Thank you dear. Now do you accept my offer to join?" Nodoka asked Ranma.

"I do." Ranma said, suddenly serious.

"Okay then. For now we will plan on how to get you to meet and befriend these girls, and tomorrow we will take you down to one of my offices to get you singed up properly. And you will meet some of the people you will work with. And remember, this is not a game, this is true life and death here." Nodoka said coldly serious.

"Mom, my fights stopped being fun and games for me at Mt. Phoenix." Ranma said, suddenly saddened at the memory of the killing ordeal.

"As long as you understand that." Nodoka said in a still cold voice. Then suddenly in a much warmer tone of voice she said "Well let me tell you all I know of these 'Magical Girls' as we call them."

Omake by Tuisto…

Nodoka smirked again and said "Thank you dear. Now do you accept my offer to join?" Nodoka asked Ranma, but before Ranma could think on it Nodoka continued quite seriously "…though you know of course, now that I've told you this, should you decline this offer I'll have to kill you." To emphasize this she pulled at the scabbard of her katana just enough for metal to glint through.

Though at this point Ranma had locked up unthinkingly with a pale slack face and wide eyes, nearly hyperventilating… the tablue of silence was broken moments later by Nodoka cracking up in a fit of roaring laughter as she gasped out "Oh… that's too rich! You should've seen your face! Buwahaha! I've always wanted to do that.. but kill you?! And you thought I was serious?! Buwahaha!"

Slowly it dawned on Ranma that she had been had for a fool, and with decided quickness Mount Ranma blew her top and bellowed in utter outrage "MOOOOOM!" It was with this that the elder Saotome woman learned to roof-hop through the ward with an irate Ranma neo-Earth Princess hot at her heels…

AN3: my beta and the reason this Fic even exists, Tuisto, saw my humor in this chapter, and gave me an Omake on it showing how to just go over the top. I left it in here for you all to enjoy. I did have one more scene I was going to put in this chapter, but I now feel so crappy that I'm not going to bother at this point in time. But in the next chapter Ranma graduates, gets a job and meets a few of her new coworkers, and that's only the beginning!

And this Fic I think will be my main focus for a while, with good and constant updates, until I get to a certain point I have in mind, then I'll be alternating one chapter of this Fic with another chapter of another Fic of mine. I like this Fic, and am having a blast writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as if not more then I enjoy writing it. Now I'm about to pass out, so I'll see you again as soon as I can people, bye bye for now!


	3. MOVING ON

AN: To answer all the questions on if this is a Fuku Fic or not, the answer is… NO! The Earth Princess is a totally different thing then a Senshi. That being said, expect a nice long scene in some future chapter explaining just what an Earth Princess really is, and how they compare to, and what their relationship is, with a Senshi.

And how does everyone like secret mercenary agent Nodoka? You get to meet a few members of her team in this chapter, although not all of them, for this is quite the large company that she is running and Ranma is joining.

As to just whom I pairing Ranma up with…, it's a surprise. And it won't happen for a while either, so just keep guessing for now if you must.

Oh, and I am very thankfully lucid this time around while writing, though I am still in a lot of pain.

And now…, on with the Fic!

SPRING OF ALMOST DROWNED EARTH PRINCESS

CHAPTER THREE

MOVING ON

Furinkan Koukou: In the auditorium: Friday: Eleven AM

Ranma was sitting in the line to get her diploma graduating her from this nut house that disguised its self as a school. The ceremony was supposed to start at Eleven AM, but things were obviously and characteristically running a little late. Her Mother was in the crowd below the stage, and had teased her earlier about having a 'pleasant surprise' for her, if things went as she thought they would.

'_I wonder what she thinks will happen, and what the nice surprise is if it does?' _Ranma wondered to her self as the time slowly ticked by.

At Eleven Twelve AM, the ceremony finally started. Principal Kuno came out, and after giving an extremely hard to follow speech relating graduating to his private, ok, ok, not so private, obsession of Hawaii, the handing out of the diploma scrolls thus commenced.

Everything was going smoothly until…

"Ranma Saotome!" As her name was called, she stood up and came to the insane Principle, 'Pineapple-brain' as she constantly referred him as. As she got up there, leaving a trail of whispers behind her as to "Why is he here as a she?" she came up to her Principle, who looked at her and said snidely

"Who's this little Kaikamahine? This is diploma is for Ranma Saotome. Ranma Saotome, last call for your diploma!"

"Damn it! Don't pretend to be as oblivious as your nutty kids! Give me my damn diploma!" Ranma shouted at her soon to be ex-tormenter if she had anything to say about it.

"Hmm, sorry, no can do. I can only give it to a Ranma Saotome, and you look nothing like HIM." He said in a patronizing voice while smiling evilly.

Ranma seethed and counted backwards from a thousand, while slightly glowing with red anger ki. As she got to eight hundred and fifty nine, a man in a business suit and a police officer came up to them "Mr. Kuno, you have been served." The man in a business suit said, thrusting a stack of plain manila legal-size envelopes into the Kuno's hands and causing Ranma to lose her count.

"Huh, what?" Kuno asked intelligently as he fumbled with the envelopes.

"Those are lawsuit papers. Read them at your convenience." The man said briskly and with a curt nod then left. Then the police officer said

"Mr. Kuno, you are under arrest for endangerment of minors under your supervision, child abuse, child neglect, and abuse of your position as a public official. Please come with me." Seeing the man about to say something, the officer said "Look, are you coming, or do I call in my back up?" The officer waved his hand back to a fully decked out SWAT team at the entrance to the building. Defeated, Mr. Kuno just hung his head while the officer cuffed him and led him away, while reading him his rights.

Picking up the dropped diploma, the Vice-Principle said "Ok, here you go Ranma." And then he handed her her diploma. "Next up is…" The Vice-Principle said, as if nothing unusual had happened.

On the way to Nodoka's office: in a limo stuck in traffic

"Well, this is nice." Ranma lamely said while looking around the back of the posh black limousine she was currently ridding in.

"Yes. This is one of the limos we use for the clients we protect. As I don't have my car in Nerima, I had asked to be picked up today. Taichi must have just decided to use one of the limos." Nodoka said nonchalantly.

"Ah, most of the normal cars were either in use or being serviced." The big man whom was driving said.

"Ah, that's ok. I've never ridden in one before. New experiences and all that." Ranma said shrugging her shoulders. "Say Mom, was Pineapple-brain getting arresting your surprise?" She asked turning to face her Mother who sat opposite her in the limo's back.

"Yes." Nodoka said with a shark toothed smile. "I had a feeling he'd try to capitalize on your being suck as a female to try to deny you your diploma, so I took steps to take care of him if he did."

Ranma was slightly creeped out by, yet really liked, the feral smile Nodoka gave her while speaking to her. Shaking her head at her thoughts, she asked "So what happens when I get to the office?"

"Well normally we see if you can do what you say you can ability wise, but we can skip that for you fortunately, and that is because I and most of the team have been watching you practice for the past few days." Nodoka said.

"I figured out who those people I keep feeling around me, and who you said not to worry about, were when I met him." Ranma said, nodding her head back at Taichi. "He feels the same as one of the people who I keep feeling around."

"Yeah, I watched you a couple times." Taichi said honestly. "And you're pretty good. Ok," he said laughing "Damn good. Your martial arts moves put some of those fantasy type martial arts movies to shame, and your command of magic is, whoo. It'll be interesting to have a real live 'Magical Girl' on the team!" Taichi then laughed.

Ranma growled at being referred to as a 'Magical Girl', and then the big man said "Sorry if I offended you by saying that. It's hard to remember you used to be a boy."

Seeing Ranma's surprised look in the rear view mirror, Taichi said "What? Of course I know. Your mom was always going on about her son and his problems once she found you again. And besides, your records, until we changed them, had you down as a male."

Ranma shook herself and said "No, it wasn't you knowing I used to be a guy that surprised me, it was the fact that you actually apologized to me for making me mad. No one's done that in… well ever I think." Ranma told the big man behind the wheel.

"Oh." Was all Taichi said, thinking on what he knew of Ranma's life from the files he read and Nodoka's stories of her. Then the big driver said "Well I never properly introduced myself did I? I'm Taichi Seiryoku, and I'm your Mother's second in command. I look forward to working with you."

"Um, ok. Thanks. I guess you know who I am. I hope to serve well under you." Ranma said a little nervously. Changing the subject, Ranma asked "Um, about my original question?"

"Oh, yes." Nodoka, whom had been silent through out the exchange between Ranma and Taichi started "Well what we'll do is enter you into our personal records, which does take some time, and then I'm going to start briefing you on your first mission." Nodoka said, then she exclaimed "Ah, perfect timing, here are our offices." She said, pointing to a large gleaming glass high-rise they were approaching. Ranma just looked silently at it, and just starting to wonder if she had gotten in over her head, yet again.

Nodoka's office: A few hours latter

Being registered as an agent under Nodoka's command was a very time consuming task, and one that was a total pain in the ass for all Ranma was concerned. It was early evening by the time they were done. It was now late at night, and Ranma, having just finished hearing exactly what her 'Cover Story' for finding the 'Magical Girls' that just might contain the Moon Princess Ranma was searching for would be, Ranma asked while being extremely shocked

"I'm going back to school? As a fourteen year old eighth grader!" Ranma asked in a very shocked and an overly high pitched, one that almost reached being a screeching, tone of voice.

"Yes." Nodoka said while nodding "All of our information points to these so called 'Magical Girls' attending Juban Jr. High. And all of our surveillance photos of them lead us to believe that they are about fourteen, placing them in the eighth grade." Nodoka casually said to Ranma as she continued working at her computer.

"But, but I can't pass for a fourteen year old!" Ranma exclaimed in protest.

Nodoka looked up at her child from her computer screen and then nodded in her agreement. She then she began to explain. "True." She started off with. "At the most you could pass as sixteen. Fifteen if we really pushed it. So this is your cover story." She said, gesturing to her computer screen and the documents that were being created on it. "You are one Ranko Tsuchi, age sixteen. You had gone on a two year training trip in the Martial Arts with your now deceased Father Takeshi Tsuchi. He was a well respected Martial Artist Sensei, owning and operating the 'Students of the World' Dojo in Juban, who had found out a few years ago he was dieing of prostate cancer, and so he took you on a three year training trip through China to teach you as much as he could in the time he had left so you had the Martial Arts skills necessary in his mind to take over his Dojo when you graduate from college. He has just recently died in China, and you have also just as recently come back home to me, your Mother Miaka Tsuchi. You came home after his funeral, which was in a small village in Northern China, and you now wish to start back into school where you had left off at, which was the eighth grade. And the great thing is, you can start next week, as they are a year round school, as opposed to your old one."

Ranma listened and then she thought about what her mother had come up with. "That could work. And since I have done a lot of similar things in real life, it will be easier to follow the cover story for me." Ranma told her mother, begrudgingly agreeing with the excellent cover she came up with for her.

"Well the best lies are often covered in the truth." Nodoka said with a sharp smile.

And then, the true planning began, which lasted well into the early morning

On the way back to Nerima from Nodoka's office in down town Tokyo: Saturday morning: around Ten Thirty AM

Ranma and Nodoka were trying to catch a few more Z's before arriving back in Nerima. They had ended their planning session at about four forty in the morning, and had just slept in Nodoka's office which had a fold out couch. Ranma insisted on taking the floor, but Nodoka had put a stop to that rather quickly.

After setting up Ranma and Nodoka's new identities, they then had to insert a few more agents of Nodoka's into Juban that were not already there. And there were a fair number of them already there. Well it was mostly Nodoka doing that. Ok, it was almost all Nodoka at that point. Those two things took a surprisingly short amount of time to Ranma.

No, it was what to do about the others in Nerima, especially Akane and Cologne that had them up most of the night. They decided that Nodoka could take care to see that none of them come to Juban to see Ranma without being invited first, all but Akane and Cologne. Those two Ranma would handle. Akane would be going to Tokyo University soon to study acting and chemistry. Ranma would tell Akane some of what was going on, not the truth but something near it, a story that if Akane believed it, would allow her to Visit Ranma in Juban without blowing Ranma's cover and allow her to 'Help out' Ranma as she felt she must.

Cologne though, there was a whole nother can o' worms. They would tell Cologne as much as possible without going into to the fact that Nodoka was a mercenary under the command of the Emperor, because they really needed her help, especially her knowledge, however slight it may be, about these "Magical Girls'. And add in the fact that she could do some slight magic her self, though usually in the form of ancient artifacts, but also in the form of potions she had concocted, she was invaluable. And three hundred years, give or take a few years, worth of knowledge and experience, and you had someone that you really wanted at your side.

They just hoped that Ranma could pull of her end, and prayed to whatever Deities would listen that the other Nerimans would stay away long enough for them to plan for, and have an explanation for, their certain arrival.

So they slept as Nodoka's second in command, Taichi Seiryoku, took them back to Nerima in the same limo they arrived in yesterday. Well at least he got a full nights sleep, and in his own bed to boot.

The Gates of Time: as Ranma and Nodoka went back to Nerima

Setsuna's hangover was a thing of beauty in her mind. Why would anyone think that a hangover was a good thing? You may ask. It was because, to Setsuna at the least, she could concentrate more on how bad she felt then her true problems. And having a hangover from eleven strait days of bar hopping in Munich, she felt absolutely horrible. Much too bad to even think on her current problems, which was just what she was aiming for.

Drinking a nasty homebrew hang over cure, one that would take just a tiny bit of the sting away, but still keep her feeling like shit, she listlessly shambled over to the Gates of Time to see what had happened in her absence. The Girls take out a few Youma, good, the Girls avoiding the black ops team that was investigating the Youma and them, good, very good. '_Nothing much to worry about here_.' Setsuna thought.

Then she went to see just what Ranma had been up to. "SHIT!!!" Setsuna screamed as she found out that Ranma's Mother ran the black ops team looking for the girls, and Ranma had joined them and would help them find the girls.

Setsuna grabbed a bottle of scotch from the year thirteen twelve, looked at it, and then sent it back into the ether from whence it came, saying "Not enough booze in the world for this mess." And then immediately transformed into her Senshi guise to wipe out her hangover, for she needed to be at her top mental operating capacity to think on just how to salvage THIS mess.

'_Good for you Puu. I always told you that your drinking would never solve anything for you, now didn't I?' _Setsuna heard a voice in her mind say, one that sounded just like her old friend and Queen.

Sighing, Setsuna replied, "Your Majesty?"

_'Yes?' _The voice asked curiously.

"Shut up." Setsuna said flatly.

As the voice huffed and went quiet, and as Setsuna went over to her work station, she thought on the matter of the voice she kept hearing in her head ever since she had found out about Ranma. It was one of two things in her mind. Option one was Queen Serenity's ghost was haunting her, and option two was she had finally gone crazy from spending so many Millennia working at and guarding the Gates of Time while making all her complex plots and plans. And she was really hoping for option two being the case, for she could handle just being crazy. Being haunted by the ghost of her best friend and Queen on the other hand, would insure that she got both options anyway, at least to her line of thinking.

And then she worked overtime on solving this mess, while the voice in her head remained blessedly quiet.


	4. TRANSITIONS

SPRING OF ALMOST DROWNED EARTH PRINCESS

CHAPTER FOUR

TRANSITIONS,

AND

STARTING ANEW

The Neko Hanten: Nerima, Japan: about one fifty on Saturday afternoon

Ranma had found and talked to Akane first, as she had bought Ranma's story completely, and would thus be no problem. Cologne however was proving to be more difficult, to put it mildly. Very mildly.

Ranma had just told Cologne that she had herd about a group of 'Magical Girls' destroying Demons in Juban, and after some investigative research done by a friend of her Mother's that she has come to the conclusion that they go to school as eighth graders at Juban Jr. High and Ranma is going undercover as a student there, and finally the fact that Ranma wanted Cologne down there in Juban with her. Unfortunately for Ranma, she stuck too close to the truth, wasn't very convincing with her explanations, and all in all, it was very obvious that she was not telling Cologne everything.

"Ranma," Cologne said sighing and massaging her temples "It is fine if you can not tell me everything, but please, do not insult me with garbage such as this. So re-tell me the things I can know, and leave off the things you don't want me to at this point in time."

Ranma stiffened, sighed, and told Cologne the bare bones facts that she was aloud to tell her. "I think the Princess of the Moon is a so called 'Magical Girl' destroying some Demons that have been identified as Youma in Juban. She most likely goes to Juban Jr. High in the eighth grade with the other so called 'Magical Girls', and I'm going to be going to that same school and grade under an assumed identity of Ranko Tsuchi, age sixteen. I was out of the country on a training trip with my now dead Father for the past few years, which is why I'm behind in school. And I need your help for when I find these girls, so I was hoping you could come to Juban with me."

"See, was that so hard?" Cologne asked with a not so pretty smile. "Yes, I'll come. Just give me a few days and I'll start closing up this shop and start one up in Juban. I should be down there in a few weeks permanently, and until then you can just contact me here. Unfortunately for you, I will have to bring Shampoo and Mouse down there. I hope they do not interfere too much with your plans, what ever they are. Oh, and do try to work on your acting Ranma." Cologne said amused, as she got up to leave, heading for the kitchen.

"Great. I hope Mom takes this well." Ranma muttered, leaving out the door.

The Tsuchi house: Sunday: Eleven AM

Ranma and Nodoka moved into their new place of residence, the Tsuchi home, and Ranma was warned that as soon as they exited the car, the only safe place to drop their act would be in the house, and sometimes not even then. At all other times, Ranma was Ranko Tsuchi and Nodoka was her Mother Miaka Tsuchi. And the only place safe to practice both her Earth powers and her martial arts was the dojo in the back. Luckily for Ranma, the dojo was quite large, and had been supremely structurally reinforced within the last few days.

Nodoka was coming out of her room, having decided to sleep in today, before she started her cover job as Juban Jr. High's new Girls Physical Education teacher tomorrow, and blinked in utter surprise as she caught sight of Ranma surrounded by books, instead of out in the dojo.

Looking over the titles of the books, she was even more surprised. "Ranma, what are you doing?" She asked staring at Ranma, who was surrounded by many books with titles such as 'Weather and how it is Formed', 'The Structural Composition of the Earth', 'Earth, a Biosphere', 'A Living Planet', 'Fire, your friend', 'Climate Changes', 'The Natural Elements and You', 'Freezing Things, Ice Cubes to Cryogenics', 'Rocks and Minerals', 'Fun with Gravity', 'A Helpful Guide for your Green Thumb'. But what was really surprising was the fact that, while surrounded by all these science books, Ranma was reading a manga of all things.

"I'm reading." Ranma said, as if it was totally obvious. Which in truth it was.

"I can see that." Nodoka said in response. "But what is with all the science books, and why are all these manga mixed in with them.

"Oh." Ranma said, getting her mother's question down in her mind. "I'm reading these manga for ideas on how to use my Earth powers. I mean I get some ideas for martial arts moves out of them, so why not for my magical powers? And I must say, I find this series to be quite helpful."

"And what series is it that you are reading?" Nodoka asked, intrigued.

"Slayers. I like the story too. And Lina kicks ass" Ranma told her Mother with a small chuckle.

"And all these scientific type books?" Nodoka asked.

"Well, just as you can't truly be an effective martial artist with out knowing something of the human body and some physics, I thought I should learn more about the Earth and the natural elements that reside on it. Now I don't plan on reading all these things cover to cover." Ranma said with a look of supreme distaste on her face. "I doubt I'd understand most of it anyways. No I got these things as reference books for when I need to look up something I don't understand how I'm doing, or how to do it with my Earth powers. These are going into a box in my closet soon. They're just emergency reference material, after I skim a few of them I'm interested in seeing a few things in, for I already have a few questions on how I'm doing a few things, and I do want to see if I can make this idea I have for a gravity based attack work. I have an idea, but I don't have a clue on how to start practicing it, so I'm going to see if I can't get some information and inspiration from a few of these things." Ranma told her Mother, then looked back at her manga, giggled, and then bookmarked it. Putting it down, she asked "Do you want to have breakfast with me?"

Nodoka blinked, thought 'Only my child could study these sorts of things, and only do it to improve how she fights.' Then Nodoka said "Sure dear, what do you want for breakfast?"

The Tsuchi house: Sunday: Seven PM

"Note to self, do not do that attack unless in serious shit." Ranma said, coming in the back door of the house, looking very irritated. "Mom, we need a new dojo." Ranma called out to her mother, who was looking at Ranma and her state of disheveled dress curiously from the couch over her reports.

Standing up and going over to the back door as Ranma went over to the kitchen to grab some of the already out and ready chicken and beef teriyaki, Nodoka opened her mouth in a small and silent gasp. The dojo was gone, just gone. With no traces of it to be found anywhere. Turning around and facing her daughter, Nodoka asked in a small and shocked voice "Where's the dojo?"

"Uh," Ranma said, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment "I was kinda seeing if my idea for condensing gravity to make an attack would work, and I kinda, sorta, musta, um, condensed it too much, cause I kinda, sorta, um, think I made a small black hole or something and it sucked the entire dojo into it's self before I dismissed it." Ranma told her Mother, the last part being said in a really high pitched voice and extremely fast.

Nodoka blinked, sorted through the information given, and asked "You made a small, localized black hole in the backyard, and it sucked in the entire dojo?" She asked while blinking, making absolutely sure she had the facts strait. Ranma nodded in her embarrassment. Nodoka just sighed and said "We're finding you a new place for you to practice, for we can't have attacks like that going on here. And I want you to perfect that attack fast, for it is just way too dangerous to do not knowing what you're doing with it." Ranma nodded again, her cheeks flushing. "I guess I'll have to call in a construction crew to put up a new dojo tomorrow, as it is too late to call them now." Nodoka said sighing while heading over to the table to eat as well.

"Sorry. And why you getting a new dojo if I'm going to practice else where?" Ranma asked curiously.

"It's ok." Nodoka told Ranma in a comforting voice. "And as to why I'm having a new dojo put in, it's for appearances sake. It would make sense for an inspiring dojo mistress to have her own dojo on her property, now wouldn't it?" Nodoka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, it would." Ranma admitted sheepishly.

"Now none of that." Nodoka said sternly. "I know you're embarrassed by doing that to the dojo, but not every thing can go smoothly in a learning process, especially one you your self are inventing as you go. You must expect some bumps in the road." Nodoka told Ranma.

"Yeah." Ranma admitted, scooping more food on her plate. "It's just sort of embarrassing, and I could of really hurt somebody if it went more out of control then it did." Ranma told her Mother.

"Embarrassment is good at times, and this is why you'll practice, so you won't hurt anyone you do not mean to with these powers." Nodoka said comfortingly.

"Yeah, and this one's going to need a lot of practice." Ranma said, sounding a little down. Then cheering up, she said with a grin "I'll see if I can't have it ready by next week at the latest."

"Good goal." Nodoka said smiling, happy that she got Ranma out of the small depression she was in because of what she did.

And then they commenced their morning repast with typical Saotome gusto.

The Gates of Time: as Ranma goes to bed

"Uhg." Setsuna growled out. "That could have been messy. A localized black hole? Does she have any idea how damaging that attack could have been? Probably. Does she have any idea what she's doing? Probably not." Setsuna then went back to her reports.

"Ok, the girl's homeroom teacher up and quit due to the Youma attack on the school last week. Ranma is slated to go in to the girls' home room as well. And I had nothing to do with either of those two things. The stress was just too much on the old teacher, and Ranma's group just got lucky when it came to the school assigning her her home room." Setsuna paused, and then said "But I can capitalize on this." Working on a computer hooked up to the Gates of Time, Setsuna started typing things in "I'll just set things up so I'll be hired as the girls and Ranma's new homeroom teacher. There!" She said with a flourish, entering in the proper data into the time stream.

Sighing and leaning back, Setsuna said "I hate this. I'm having to get closer to them to keep a better tab on the situation, and at this rate I will have to involve myself soon. Once the first Youma sees Ranma, Beryl is going to throw a conniption!" Setsuna sighed then shivered "If it goes really bad, the other outers might be needed soon…" Setsuna then paused, clutched her hair and yelled. "…I hate having my plans shot to hell!"

_'Which is why I told you not to be so intricate in your plans Puu. The less you have planed, the less you have to rework when applying them to the real world.' _The voice in Setsuna's head that sounded oh so much like her old Queen said.

"I know your Majesty, I know." Setsuna sighed, resigned to the fact that this voice would not, and will not, go away. She then got ready for bed, for she had a class to teach tomorrow.


End file.
